Britain's nuclear test veterans ARE the victims of a genetic curse, new research reveals

After six-decades of denial research at the University of Liverpool has proven some of the service-men ordered to watch bomb tests during the Cold War could have passed deadly radiation onto their children

Scientists have finally confirmed that Britain’s nuclear veterans ARE the victims of a genetic curse.

After six decades of denial it has been proven many service-men ordered to watch bomb tests during the Cold War passed on the effects of deadly radiation to their children.

Research – first reported by the Sunday Mirror in 2007 – which shows that their offspring have 10 times the normal rate of birth defects has finally been accepted by the scientific community.

The study proves:

Wives have THREE times the rate of miscarriage

Children are FIVE times more likely to die as infants

Babies are THREE times more likely to be stillborn

Veterans' grandchildren EIGHT times more likely to have birth defects

Grandchildren of veterans TWICE as likely to get childhood cancer

And the most shocking finding of all is that the problems are likely to last at least 500 years, or 20 generations.

Victims of a genetic curse

500 years

University of Liverpool

University of Liverpool

The study was carried out by Dr Chris Busby while he was a Fellow at the University of ­Liverpool.

He found a statistically high rate of defects among veteran families ­indicating a “genomic instability” in their DNA, something also seen in animals after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.

The publication this week of his groundbreaking study in a peer-reviewed medical journal means the Ministry of Defence stands alone in denying a link between Britain’s bomb tests and the high numbers of disabled children.

He is the 12th Prime Minister to have considered, and so far ignored, the veterans’ claims since our first atomic test in 1952.

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Around 22,000 men, many on National Service, were ordered to take part in the tests in Australia and at Christmas Island in the South Pacific in the 1950s.

They witnessed hundreds of test ­detonations of atomic and hydrogen bombs and radio-active detonators.

After RAF pilot Eric Denson was ordered to fly through mushroom clouds of hydrogen bombs on sampling missions in 1957, he received the equivalent of 12,000 X-rays to his brain and later killed himself after suffering years of headaches.

Campaign: Sunday Mirror

Today 37 per cent of his descendants – including great-granddaughter Ella, 20 months, who is awaiting surgery for a malformed kidney and can barely eat – have birth defects.

His widow Shirley, who has campaigned for recognition for 30 years, said: “We always knew the MoD were waiting for us old ones to die and hoping the problem would go away. This research is the silver bullet which means they cannot ignore us any longer.”

Dr Busby said: “Recent research shows uranium – which fell to earth in rain and dust after the blasts – causes genetic effects at very low radiation doses. It binds to DNA and amplifies the ­radiation damage.”

This ­“scrambled DNA” can then be passed on to future generations, causing random mutations.

Tory MP John Baron, who leads the campaign in Parliament, said: “The acceptance of Dr Busby’s report adds further weight to the campaign.

“Britain has a moral obligation to its test veterans and their descendants, especially when compared to how other countries treat their nuclear veterans. A benevolent fund would be a fitting tribute.”

On Friday the MoD emailed our reporter claiming Dr Busby’s work had not been peer-reviewed.

After we provided them with evidence his research HAD been verified, they said: “[Other] genetic studies have been carried out on the children of atomic bomb survivors since the 1940s.

“They looked at birth defects, still births, cancer incidences and chromosome abnormalities, but no statistically significant increase has been seen.”

The human tragedy

Victim: Amanda Coates (Photo: Sunday Mirror)

Amanda Coates was born with no left leg below the knee, and her left kneecap back to front. Most of the tips of her fingers are also missing, and she needed her right hip replaced when she was 39.

“The doctors said my deformities meant there was more pressure on that hip so it simply wore away,” she said. Amanda, now 52, is expecting to have her other hip replaced shortly.

Her dad Brian was an RAF engineer with 227 Squadron serving on Christmas Island in 1958. It was his job to strip down and clean the engines of planes which had flown through mushroom clouds on MoD missions.

As a youngster: Amanda Coates (Photo: Sunday mirror)

Amanda, of Felixstowe, Suffolk, said: “I’ve always known there was a link. They’re talking about taking my Motability car away, which means I won’t be able to get to work and have to go on benefits. How does that help the taxpayer?

“I hope the Prime Minister does the right thing and gives us a benevolent fund. We need help to work and support ourselves.”